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Articles by Michael Stuart

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About Michael Stuart

After university, Michael spent twelve years working for MELODY MAKER before going freelance. He claims to keep doing it because it is all he knows. More Posts

With some trepidation

Reports of an unlikely reunion of The Kinks reached us at the weekend – ‘unlikely’ because, as is a well-known fact of rock music folklore, the relationship between siblings Ray and Dave Davies is so notoriously fractious. There is no general rule preventing an artist – or indeed artiste [...]

June 9, 2014 // 0 Comments

The Knebworth Festival

I chanced upon a report in the media earlier this week that the Knebworth Festival is celebrating its fortieth anniversary this year. I have vague memories of being there at various times in the 1970s to see Pink Floyd – who arranged for a Spitfire, or rather a replica version, to ‘fly’ on [...]

May 28, 2014 // 0 Comments

If it’s what you do, why stop?

Given the remit and mission statement of this esteemed organ, I thought that readers of The National Rust might enjoy this article by Nick Hasted, published today on the website of THE [...]

April 23, 2014 // 0 Comments

Sending a package

I had an encounter with the modern world yesterday and, on balance, came out roughly honours even. Son Barry, whom my avid readers may remember is a yachtsman, is currently based in Poland for a refit, pending continuation of his 16-month-and-counting voyage. The next stop-off had been intended as [...]

April 16, 2014 // 0 Comments

Learning something new

Yesterday turned out to be exhausting. First I collected my brother on Putney Heath and then drove to the coast to join a lunch my father had organised with his cousin and her partner at a hotel near Chichester. The event passed off most satisfactorily. Being on alert for family nostalgia and [...]

April 15, 2014 // 0 Comments

Of their time – maybe

Let me be frank. Generally-speaking, when it comes to the issue of ‘mature’ pop musicians continuing to make music and seeking to put it out in public, I’m a sceptic. Please don’t get me wrong – I’m denying neither the right of anyone to attempt to do whatever they want, irrespective of [...]

March 28, 2014 // 0 Comments

This woman’s work is not yet done

The sudden announcement that legendary UK singer Kate Bush will be undertaking her first ‘live’ gigs in thirty-five years (the Before The Dawn tour) took the media world by storm yesterday. As things stand, it seems that she will be playing 15 dates at what is now called London Eventim Apollo [...]

March 22, 2014 // 0 Comments

Stories from the past

I am down on the south coast, spending the weekend with my father, who is eighty-eight, partly in order to watch the climax of rugby’s Six Nations tournament together. Sitting outside on his terrace in the bright spring sunshine, he came out with two anecdotes that I had not heard previously – [...]

March 15, 2014 // 0 Comments

Family matters

Families are strange things, each with its own unique way of operating and never the twain shall meet. In my experience, those containing a preponderance of females tend to be noisy, with all humans emotions – ranging from loving and the opposite – close to the surface, allowing you to retain [...]

February 28, 2014 // 0 Comments

A spell in London rush hour traffic

Last night I drove up the M1 in order to collect my son from Luton Airport, he on a lightning 48-hour visit to the UK for a variety of business and personal reasons. Leaving aside the issue of why a 31-year-old male needs to be collected from anywhere by his father – as it happens, he asked and, [...]

February 27, 2014 // 0 Comments

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